


Dorm Life: Or How I Learned About Friendship, Booze, and Living

by PickleandtheQueen



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-02
Updated: 2016-02-13
Packaged: 2018-05-11 02:38:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5610766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PickleandtheQueen/pseuds/PickleandtheQueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of connected stories about our favorite characters if they had all gone to college. Title is probably a little too deep considering this has no real plot.</p><p>AU, but canon races are staying. I like my greenies green.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Move In Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which Piccolo and Goku Meet

Piccolo was lugging his belongings up the stairs to his new home. Well, his _temporary_ home. His first year at University. 

Classes started on Tuesday. He had no idea why they didn't start on Monday. It seemed silly, but it was not up to him to decide the schedule of classes. Piccolo would have shrugged, but he was carrying a heavy duffle bag and a cumbersome box which made such an action...difficult. No matter, he would soon be all moved in, away from _everything_ else…

He had to flatten himself against the wall as a boy with wild black hair thundered down the stairs past him, nearly toppling him in a tornado of movement. 

“I’ll get the last boxes, Grandpa!” the boy shouted back over his shoulder before disappearing around a bend in the stairwell. 

Struggling to regain control of his belongings, Piccolo hissed and wobbled, fingers tightening around the box. He hadn’t even gotten a good look at the other boy, but he had a sneaking suspicion that it would not be the last time they met…

 

Finally, Piccolo reached room 325. It was just to the left of the stairs, which would either be unbelievably annoying or incredibly convenient. Probably both, he relented. The door was open, and an old man seemed to be sorting bins and boxes. _Oh no._ That meant that the boy on the stairs was - 

“Why hellllooooo there!” the old man straightened, his back cracking loudly. “Let me help you, here, here, I’ll free your hands.” Piccolo privately doubted that this frail old gentleman could handle the weight of the box he held, but before he could so much as open his mouth in protest, the box was being set on the floor by the unoccupied bed. “I hope you don’t mind that Goku already picked a side of the room, we weren’t sure when you’d be getting along and didn’t want to leave his things in the middle of the room!”

“It - it’s fine,” Piccolo managed to reply at long last. His roommate’s choice had put him farther from the stairs. That was just fine. 

He had only conversed with his roommate via email, and sporadically at that. They had agreed that Goku would bring the television if Piccolo paid for the refrigerator rental fee. The other’s emails had not prepared him for the level of... _boisterousness_...yet to come. 

“Oh _HEY!_ You must be Piccolo!” The teen nearly jumped out of his skin as the room’s other permanent occupant popped back in. “I’m Goku!”

“Figured,” he muttered, taking a step back and pinning his long ears. His roommate grinned and threw an arm around his grandfather. “I’m real excited to get t’know you!” Piccolo nodded mutely, his stomach clenching. He had to share a room with this kid. He had to share a room with _this kid_. _ **This** kid! _

 

Setting up his side of the room had been easy. He had next to no personal belongings to set out; no family photographs, only a few pictures from his high school swim team and other such memorabilia. Compared to his roommate’s posters and photographs, Piccolo felt incredibly minimalist… 

 

“Do you want to come meet my friend Krillin? We were gonna room together but we figured if we roomed apart and made new friends, we’d have a bigger group more quickly.” Goku beamed at him, standing the door to their room. 

Piccolo hesitated but stood and followed his roommate. Keys and ID were stuffed unceremoniously in his pockets. 

“Where are we meeting your friend?”

Goku answered by grabbing his hand and yanking him down the hallway. 

Within minutes, Piccolo was being introduced to a short bald boy and a tall kid with a ponytail, who was apparently Goku’s friend Krillin’s new roommate. His name was Yamcha. 

  
Piccolo hung back awkwardly after introductions were made, leaning against the wall. The group was a little too rowdy for his tastes. Not terribly so, but he preferred to be alone...


	2. Anatomy & Physiology

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which Piccolo and Goku Meet Chichi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a bit short, but it felt like the end

Chichi was about as nervous and uptight as a first year nursing student could be while attending their first class. Sitting down in the front row, the petite girl slipped her brand new laptop out of her backpack with almost ceremonious care and set it on the tiny desk. How the hell was she supposed to do anything with a desk that barely fit her laptop? Chewing her lip, she opted to keep the computer closed until the other students were seated. No sense in risking someone - a tall boy with darkish skin and wild black hair bumped into her desk. Her fingers tightened on the edges of her laptop to steady it. 

“Oops! Sorry about that!” The snappy remark she had been about to throw at the other student died on her lips as Chichi caught sight of his dazzling smile. 

“It’s fine,” she squeaked after an awkward drawn out sound. His teeth were a little crooked, but that did nothing to diminish the infectious nature of his expression. Her heart did little flip flops. 

Someone took the desk to her left, but she didn't look until the smiling boy acknowledged the person beside her. 

“Pic, are you  _ really _ sitting in the front row?”

“I want to learn, so yes.” Smiley’s companion was namekian, and a grumpy one at that. “This is an important class, Goku.”

Smiley - Goku - grinned and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

“Take it easy, Piccolo! Gosh.” But he sat down beside her, effectively sandwiching her between two of the most attractive looking people she had ever seen in her whole life. Her face grew so hot, she wondered if she might spontaneously combust right there. 

 

There were still five or so minutes before the class was supposed to start. Piccolo was relieved that Goku had chosen to sit on the other side of the blushing girl rather than next to him. He was quite done with the other student; his roommate was loud, obnoxious, and overly friendly. He liked privacy, and Goku wanted to know everything about everyone all of the time. 

Piccolo’s ear flicked in the direction of the poor girl caught between them as Goku began to chat with her. He couldn’t tell if the girl was annoyed or embarrassed… Her face was so pink she looked like a strawberry. 

Goku hit it off with Strawberry immediately. Of course, asking for her name was just too much for his roommate to ask. Her major? Favorite color? Sure, sure. But her name? No. Piccolo rolled his eyes, and found them resting on Strawberry’s no longer bright pink face. She was quite cute, with large chocolate eyes and button nose. She had a tattoo he could only partially see poking out of her collar on her back. A dragon? Strawberry leaned forward and her collar slid to the side. “What does your tattoo say?” the dragon held Chinese characters in its claws. 

Strawberry jumped out of her skin, the hand closest to him jumping to cover the tattoo.

“What?” 

The strawberry flush had come back to her face. 

Maybe he shouldn’t have asked about the tattoo. “It’s um, it’s my mother’s name… she died when I was in high school.”

“Oh…” Piccolo pursed his lips, his stomach twisting with discomfort. “I’m uh...sorry to hear that.” He shifted in his seat and faced immediately forward again, opening his backpack and pulled his laptop out of it. “Sorry for bringing it up.” 

“It’s um…” Strawberry offered an uncomfortable smile, “it’s fine… um?”

“Piccolo, and you?”

“Chichi.” 

“That’s a cute name,” Goku laughed, diffusing the air. Piccolo exhaled, shoulders slumping as Chichi looked back at his roommate.  


End file.
